Kidney beans, generally regarded as nutritional gold as a result of their high protein and mineral content and low glycemic load, have a dark side. They contain a high amount of phytohaemagglutnin, which can cause extreme nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea with the ingestion of as few as four or five beans. The poisoning often requires hospitalization.
The problem usually arises when the victim eats raw beans which have been soaked but not properly cooked, such as when they have been added to a salad. Crock pots or other slow cookers may not get hot enough to destroy the poison and may actually aggravate the toxicity. Kidney beans cooked to only about 175 degrees F (about 80 degrees C) are actually about five times more toxic than their raw brethren.
Oddly enough, kidney bean poisoning is reported far more often in the United Kingdom than in the USA.
According to the Public Health Laboratory Services, Colindale, U.K., you should prepare kidney beans as follows:
1. Soak the raw beans in water for at least five hours.
2. Throw the water away.
3. Boil the beans briskly in fresh water for at least ten minutes.
2. Throw the water away.
3. Boil the beans briskly in fresh water for at least ten minutes.
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